Presently shooting for 8 weeks in Bavaria, Samuel L. Jackson’s latest action-thriller Big Game is Finnish writer/director Jalamari Helander’s English-language film debut.

The adventure begins with a young boy, Osarki (Onni Tommila), and his rite of passage – the family tradition which requires thirteen-year-old boys to spend a day and a night in the wilderness with nothing but a bow and arrow. The goal is to bring back a prize that proves your manhood. Coinciding with Osarki’s ritual is a terrorist attack on Air Force One, which is carrying the President of The United States, played by Samuel L. Jackson. The plane is shot down over Osarki’s wilderness, with the President hidden in an escape pod. Osarki finds the pod (which is being tracked by satellite) and together he and the President try to escape while the terrorists close in.

FirstShowing.net describes the thriller as having a “universal rite of passage theme popular in 1980’s films, such as E.T and Karate Kid, blended with the visceral thrill of current high-concept action classics like Die Hard and Taken.” Felicity Huffman (Transamerica, Desperate Housewives) has just joined the cast as the head of the CIA. Victor Garber (Argo) is playing the Vice President and Ted Levine (American Gangster, Shutter Island) is playing an Army general.

Petri Jokiranta is producing along with Alex Garland for the Subzero banner, and Will Clarke and Andy Mayson will co-produce for Altitude Film Entertainment.

Onni Tommila in ‘Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale’

Jalamari Helander wrote and directed the 2010 Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. The fantasy/horror film was given 3 1/2 stars out of 4  by the late film critic Roger Ebert. The film is described as an action/adventure, art house international comedy drama and a science fiction fantasy (yes, apparently all of that). It stars the same Onni Tommila as a young boy who discovers that the man frozen in ice from a local archaeological dig by an multinational corporation is really Santa Claus. Together with his reindeer hunter father, they try to sell the creature, but when children start disappearing, and feisty elves start interfering, they realize this isn’t the man people want coming down their chimneys on Christmas Eve.

Rotten Tomatoes gave Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale a 90% viewer satisfaction rating. Watch the trailer here:

Look for Big Game to debut in 2014. We’ll keep you updated.